My Duty to You
by JustAnotherShipper
Summary: Duty always comes first to Minako and Rei. Both have committed themselves to live without loving; they were the loveless Love Goddess and the Chaste Warrior. But often times, things never turn as planned.
1. The Introduction

**ATTN:** **With summer vacation, I guess that comes with the territory of a lot of freetime. Which means a brand-spanking new fic! Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or these characters, the fabulous Naoko Takeuchi does. This story takes place post-Galaxia and takes elements from the live-action, anime and manga. I apologize in advance for any unintentional humor that slips into the serious parts... I can't help it. It's a slow start, but please, enjoy the new story!**

Everything had been quiet at the temple. The raven-haired miko had felt no new disturbances in the past few weeks; the world as she knew it had been peaceful since then. She went outside to view the sky as it gradually turned from blue to purple. She had spent most of the day doing her chores, reflecting on the events that have happened to her and her group of friends. Their sacrafice, death and rebirth... and she was back to every day life as if none of it has happened, the outside world oblivious to what she knew. But she remembered. Her friends remembered. She felt pride swell up, knowing that she has done her duty to the world yet again. To her princess and future queen, yet again.

Speaking of her future queen, Rei noticed the time. She cleaned up what she was doing and went to her room. She began to pack clothes for the morning and she began to undress herself. She was, of course, getting ready for a sleepover. Tonight, they had the pleasure of staying at Ami's luxurious apartment. As she was noticiably without clothing, she began to search for something to wear. As she began to pick out her outfit, her sliding door slammed open.

"Ah Rei! There you are!" The future queen exclaimed. And then her eyes widened. They both froze, Rei caught in a compromising position. She probably wouldn't have been as embarassed about being fully exposed to her liege if it wasn't for the fact that she acted extremely childish about it. Rei pulled on her clothes as quickly as she could as a squeal was let out, "Eeeeeeep!" The sliding door was slammed shut. When Rei finished changing, she poked her head out of her room, holding her bag.

"Ne, Usagi, knock next time, will you?" Rei chastised the red-faced blonde. She simply nodded out of embarassment. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Well, the temple is on the way to Ami's place, so I thought we could go walk over together." Usagi stated. Rei chuckled.

"Next time, call so I'm not startled, okay? Let's get going. Maybe if we leave now, you'll be on time." Rei teased. Usagi huffed as they left the temple.

When they arrived at Ami's place, they were greeted by familiar faces. Makoto was busy pulling cookies of the oven, while Ami and Minako sat on a comfortably squishy couch. Ami and Minako smiled at Rei and Usagi. Rei looked at the table in front of them; no textbooks, no homework, just silly, frilly magazines. She smirked, tonight was going to be about fun. And in Ami's apartment no less! Cookies were soon added to the table and they all began to settle in the area.

"Usagi! You're here early!" Makoto teased. The girls all chuckled and Usagi seemed pleased with herself.

"And Rei! You're here late," Minako added. The pleased look on Usagi's face turned into a pout and the other girls giggled.

'Ah, Minako...' Rei thought. Ever since the incident at her school happened, the two girls have inevitably gotten closer. They became even closer after dying together. Rei's mind drifted to what happened before that fateful moment. They never discussed the moment after it happened, but she had an aching feeling of wanting to. She remembered being on the roof of Minako's school. They were being confronted by the Starlights.

_We don't need men. Got a problem with that?_

Of course, she was referring to their duty to stay devoted to the princess, right? But, why would it matter othewise? Rei had devoted herself to a life of chastity in order to stay loyal in her duties. She looked towards her princess, who had turned her attention to the cookies. Rei shifted her attention to Minako, who was looking through a magazine with Makoto and Ami, ridiculing the outfit a current celebrity was caught wearing. The night went on and on. It was a different feeling, not studying for once, or having to worry about the next attack, and just having plain old fun.

However, sugar filled cookies wouldn't keep the girls up forever, and their eyelids began to feel heavy. One by one, they drifted off into sleep. Except for one girl. She felt restless, and it wasn't from the sugar at all. She got up from her sleeping bag and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. She couldn't keep her mind off of the hot gaze she felt from time to time that night. Amidst the giggling and ridiculing, she would feel the gaze of the amethyst eyes fall on her. The blonde smiled to herself, knowing that the usually stoic raven was giving her attention.

She started to take a sip of water and stared at the window. The moon was glowing brightly, as usual. A tiny smile started to form. She then saw a bright star shining in the night sky. 'Mars,' the blonde thought to herself. Her smile grew wider, but immeadiately turned into a frown. The sapphire eyes held a secret, and whether the secret was obvious was up to the observation skills of her friends. The blonde has feigned interest in boys. No, that was a lie. She still liked boys, they just didn't captivate her like Mars did. Ever since their lips almost touched, even if a spirit had taken over her body, the blonde had seen Rei, and girls in general, in a completely new light. She just used men to help hide this fact. Of course, all of this was a useless game to her. Thinking of love, that is. She had been cursed to live a life without romance. Her duty would always come first. Always over love. The irony of being the Goddess of Love and not being able to fall in love... no, not that. She was already dangerously close to falling in love. It was not being able to act on these feelings that made her laugh.

"Can't sleep either, ne Minako?" the object of the blonde's thoughts seemed to appear out of nowhere. Minako observed the ever graceful Rei as she took a glass out of the cabinet. Even in baggy sweatpants and a too large t-shirt, Rei still managed to be beautiful. 'No, none of that tonight.' Minako scolded herself. She never let her romantic thoughts of Rei get too far, no matter how much she truly did like her.

There seemed to be an underlying tension in the quietness of the room. Minako, who stood still by the window, still observed Rei as she filled her glass with water. Rei could feel the eyes on her. She turned around to look at Minako, who was standing in the moonlight. As beautiful as this site was, Rei couldn't help but use this opprotunity to tease her best friend.

"You like what you see?" Rei teased. Minako, who suddenly became aware of how long she was staring at Rei, turned a nice shade of red. Rei chuckled. A tense silence fell over them once again. Rei moved towards where Minako was standing. Once Minako felt the heat from her face cool off, broke the silence.

"Look," Minako pointed out the window towards the bright star. "You're shining tonight." She gave a soft smile to Rei, and she felt a blush creep up her face. The tense spell was replaced with a comfortable silence, now. Although Rei had burning questions for Minako, and Minako had burning feelings for Rei, the two friends were just enjoying each others' presence. Minako finished her glass of water and started heading out the kitchen. Rei was still staring out the window when she head Minako retaliate to her previous statement. "You know, I wouldn't be one to talk about staring, Rei. It seemed like you couldn't get enough of me earlier."

Rei felt her face getting hot as she watched her leader leave the room. Butterflies started dancing in her stomach. It seems she wasn't as discreet as she hoped she was. But why was she staring? Minako was definitely a sight for sore eyes, Rei couldn't deny. But, then again, all of her friends weren't hard to look at. Was it because she couldn't keep her mind off her throughout the night? Rei played that thought off. Maybe it was just the way the girl acted that attracted her attention. 'Attracted... attract... attraction... to her...' Rei bit her lip as her face flushed, yet again. 'It is way too late to be thinking about these types of things.' She finished her glass of water and left the kitchen. As she tried to back to sleep, she felt a foreboding feeling about the weeks to come.

**Meh... I know, a very slow start. But I think things will pick up speed in the next few chapters. Have faith in me, friends! **


	2. Sense in the Flame

**ATTN:** ** Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or these characters, the fabulous Naoko Takeuchi does. Let's get this show on the road. **

The next morning, Usagi woke up to the smell of pancakes. Usagi quickly jumped up from her sleeping bag, when her nose led her to the kitchen. She found herself the last in the room, the other girls already getting started on the pancakes.

"You guys! Why didn't you wake me up earlier!" She whined as she began to dig into the good herself.

"It's still pretty early, Usagi, you're not going to miss anything." Makoto told her. Usagi was going to spend her day with Mamoru, who would be leaving for the United States for school in a few days. "Besides, I had faith that my cooking would wake you up." Usagi scarfed her food down; she had to get ready for her date with Mamoru, who would be coming to pick her up from Ami's in approximately thirty minutes. As that girl rushed, everyone else ate their meal of Makoto-brand pancakes at a regular pace. They saw the panic in Usagi's face as time was getting closer to the moment Mamoru would pick her up. She finished eating and quickly got ready.

"Bye bye everyone!" Usagi said, rushing out the door. The door slammed, and the girls laughed at their princess' behavior.

"You can't really blame her, though. The one she loves is leaving in a few days, so she'll want to spend as much time with him as possible." Minako said breathily. She was staring across the table, but when she realized who she was staring at, she straightened up and started scarfing down her pancakes. Ami tilted her in head curiosity and gave a questioning look to Makoto. She just shrugged and shook her head. "By the way. Did I mention. How freaking amazing. These pancakes are?" Minako mentioned between bites. Rei eyed her friend curiously and then looked at the clock.

"I think I should leave soon," Rei told her friends. They looked at the clock as well; it was about time for Rei to begin her chores at the temple. And she wasn't sure she could handle the presence of the blonde bombshell any longer...

"I'll walk home with you," Minako added in. Rei cursed on the inside. She turned to Makoto. "You want to come with us?" Makoto shook her head.

"I think I'm going to refuse that offer. Ami has to help me with one of my papers due tomorrow." She told the two. They began to get up to leave. After they packed up and the door shut behind them, Ami shot Makoto a curious look.

"You didn't tell me about a paper! I could have helped you last night." Ami began to tell the girl, but Makoto shook her head.

"I can just do that later. That wasn't what I actually stayed behind for. Didn't you notice anything about the two of them?" Makoto told her. Ami became less tense and nodded her head.

"Well, I was only aware of what happened this morning with the staring. But I don't think that was the suspicious part." Ami admitted. "Did you notice more?"

"Well... Rei was staring at Minako a lot last night."

"And as I mentioned earlier, I hardly think staring constitutes anything suspicious. Besides, Minako was making a spectacle of herself last night. Anyone would stare." Ami looked towards Makoto, who was shaking her head. She saw something in Rei's eyes that made it different from regular staring.

"Even if you are a genius, I forget you aren't exactly educated in the romance department." Makoto started. "Rei and Minako have always had a tight bond. And obviously something was bothering Minako earlier..."

"It could just be another boy, though! She could have been spacing out." Ami answered back, logically. "After all, that's all Minako talks about half the time." Makoto shook her head. It was true, but if her gut instinct was correct then...

"What if it's just a cover? You may not have noticed because your heads always in a book, but Minako looks at Rei differently. You'll just have to see it next time we're all together." Makoto told Ami. She thought about it for a moment, and sighed. "Trust me, please?"

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it until I see it with my own eyes." Ami looked towards Makoto's school books. Makoto looked back at her, wide-eyed. "Now, about that paper of yours..."

Minako and Rei were walking down the streets. The uncomfortable silence from last night that disappeared seemed to reappear as they accompanied each other. Minako wasn't sure what was so unsettling about walking with Rei this time. It couldn't be Minako's feelings for Rei, obviously she's known about her own feelings for awhile. Perhaps it was the lack of conversation, due to Rei concentrating on the pavement ahead of her. Minako knew something was wrong.

"Is everything alright Rei?" Minako tried to ask her friend cheerily. She had been a few paces behind Rei, but bounced up next to her as she asked. Rei grunted and faced away from her. Minako arched her eyebrow and a teasing grin appeared on her face. "Was it because of last night? Did my staring make you uncomfortable? Because I promise I can try to stop staring. Or, perhaps you liked it..." Rei shook her head and looked at her friend. She was about to rerort the way she usually would with her friend, but decided against it. Her mind was a bit too hazy after the events from the night before.

"It's not that... I really don't want to talk about it right now, Minako." Rei answered calmly. And it was true. She realized this morning that she couldn't keep brushing these feelings, or emotions, whatever you may call it aside. She would have to deal with them, especially since she knew the consequences of having any such emotion. But when the cause of all your obfuscation is trying to distract you with her teasing and flirting, it was rather hard to concentrate on anything.

Minako could feel that, behind the calm demeanor, there was restraint that was forcing it there. Normally, this is the kind of opportunity she would go for, but there was something different about Rei today. She looked at Rei and understood; Rei needed some space today. Minako sighed, "Well, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you know where to find me." Rei just nodded and looks straight ahead.

They walked silently the rest of the way to the shrine. Minako observed her friend, comrade, and secret love interest. The concentrated look on Rei's face told Minako that the girl had many questions of her own. Adding her own questions really didn't seem like a good idea. This gave her time to think as well, however, since she had a few questions to answer herself.

Upon arriving at the shrine, she realized that she couldn't answer her questions by herself either. She knew she needed someone to turn to for her answers. But who? Once she reached the bottom of the staircase, she knew where she would turn to.

"I'll see you later." Minako told her casually. Rei nearly nodded. They parted ways, both of their paces picking up speed. Rei sighed a sigh of relief. Now that Minako was gone, she could finally concentrate on her thoughts. She went to the best place for her to concentrate. Rei ran up the stairs, into the room that contained the sacred flame. She lit the fire, sat down, and began to concentrate...

"Thanks for the ice cream, Mamoru!" Usagi exclaimed. Earlier, they had ice cream sundaes and right now she was happily licking an ice cream cone; you know, a to go order. Mamoru chuckled as he put his arm around Usagi. They walk towards his car and opened the door for Usagi, like a gentleman and such. This earned a smile from his beloved princess. He closed it and went to his side. It had been a good day. Absolutely no interruptions on his date with Usagi, which is a good thing, because this would be the last time they could be together until he came back for break. They had light conversation in the car, due to Usagi's concentration on another sweet treat that seemed to be procured from thin air.

"I hope you don't mind too much that they're coming with us to the airport this time." Usagi told Mamoru. He chuckled; she acted as if he found them a hindrance. He shook his head.

"Of course not." He reassured Usagi. She looked at him, her eyes looking questioningly behind her lollipop. "I mean, especially after what happened last time, I understand why they would want to come along." She thought about it a moment and it make complete sense. After what happened to Mamoru at the airport last time, they would want to keep an eye out on both of them. She nodded, content with the logic, and began to attack her lollipop.

... Rei sat, her hair becoming wet with sweat from the heat of the flames. She concentrated hard, the questions floating through her mind. She wasn't going to lie to herself, she knew there was some sort of attraction to Minako. She couldn't bring herself to recognize the extent of this attraction for various reasons, however. First, she had her duty to uphold, and who know how much this could distract her from it. Or, if things got any worse, to completely take away her devotion to the princess. Second, she knew that just because she had an attraction to her doesn't necessarily mean she should act upon it. Third, although Minako seemed to flirt with her, she also seemed to flirt with everyone else, so Rei couldn't tell if Minako had any feelings as well. And lastly, there was something, or rather someone, tugging in the back of her mind. Who or whatever it was didn't want to let her have her romantic freedom just yet.

All these conflicting thoughts and warring emotions were swirling in her head. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration and frustration. On one hand, she wanted to figure out what exactly her feelings were, so she wouldn't be distracted otherwise. On the other hand, if those feelings were to escalate into something that would become more distracting for her, she knew it would be a problem. On another hand, after figuring all this out, there would be the inevitably of dealing with a curious Minako, or just Minako in general, which could quickly end up being her own personal hell. And somewhere amidst all this confusion, the words _duty_ would try to insert itself into her inner conflict...She found herself going nowhere quickly.

But then it happened. Rei's eyes flashed open. The flame expanded quickly, revealing an image.

She saw a figure of a man in the flames. She was surprised, half because she wasn't really expecting anything tangible to appear in the flame, half because, apparently her answers were to come in the form of a man. He wore glasses, was clean shaven, and appeared to be in his late 20's to early 30's. The image faded away, but after a few moments, she recognized the man. And in that moment, she realized what she needed before figuring out the rest of her emotions: definite closure.

**OOOOH cliffhanger! Kind of. Next chapter's definitely going to be interesting. Until next time, ciao!**


	3. Felines and Fiascos

**ATTN:** **Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or these characters, the fabulous Naoko Takeuchi does. I hope you enjoy cliffhangers! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!**

There was a loud yawn coming from the Aino residence. The night sky was filled with stars, but a little cloudy. Earlier, Minako had rushed home in hope of finding who she was looking for. Alas, her companion was out for the day with his feline friend. He had come home just as Minako was preparing to sleep. Minako was now in her pajamas as she made her way to her bed. She maneuvered around her furniture and picked up the white cat on her way to the bed. She plopped onto the bed, with the grumpy cat in her arms. As she settled in her bed, the cat tried to squirm out of her arms.

"Where have you been, Mister Artemis?" She mock interrogated. She knew what the answer was, of course; she just liked to toy with her cat.

"Same place I go everytime I go out, Miss Minako." He retorted. The girl huffed. She let go of Artemis and he jumped off of her to curl up next to her. He looked at her and noticed the serious look on Minako's face. "Is everything alright?" The moments pause before her answer indicated that something was wrong.

"I... actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about as soon as possible. And it's a good thing you came before I fell asleep." She said, forcing a small smile on her face. Artemis noticed Minako's relucatance to continue on. He waited patiently as Minako gathered her thoughts.

"My duty is always to come first, right?" She looked away from Artemis's stare and bit her lip. He was confused, but answered her question.

"Of course it is."

"And there should never be any outside distraction that is more important than my duty, right?"

"Never... but, you already know this. What's gotten into you?" Minako was thinking long and hard if she should delve into the details of why she was asking these questions. However, the long moment of silence caused Artemis to jump to his own conclusion. "You aren't thinking about quitting everything, are you? I know your school life is important to you, but to allow that to get in the way of your true duties is-" But he stopped when he heard a soft chuckle come from Minako. She shook her head.

"It's not nice to assume things, Artemis." He looked slightly embarassed. She stroked his back to show him that it was all right. After a deep breath, she continued. "But, I just find my life a little ironic, don't you think? The Goddess of Love to repress her feelings in order to stay completely true to her duty..." Artemis immeadiately understood what she was saying.

"Minako..." His eyes turned soft. "I thought that after last time, you would be a _lot_ more careful with your feelings. Especially since you've sworn yourself to this."

"I know. Sometimes, fate and circumstance really justs kicks you in the ass, especially when it comes to love. But you know I intend on keeping my word for as long as I sanely can." Artemis could hear it in her voice; this wasn't just another fling, another deep infatuation with a handsome young gentleman or someone deemed 'cool.' Her tone was that of a matured woman, not of the usual silly, fun Minako.

"If you don't mind my asking, who is the lucky man?" To his surprise, this question earned him a smirk.

"Ah, Artemis, I already told you it's not nice to assume things." It took him a moment to process what she meant. Once he figured it out, his eyes widened.

"I'm sorry Minako, let me rephrase that: who is the lucky lady?" Minako gave a curt laugh. She was growing tired of this and she got whatever answer she wanted to hear from Artemis.

"If you think about it hard enough, the answer should be easy to figure out." Before Artemis could interject or ask for another hint, Minako gave another loud yawn and started to doze off. Artemis sighed. If Minako expected him to figure it out on his own, obviously it had to be one of the girls he knew. Minako talked as if this relationship could have been a possibility, so he ruled Usagi, Michiru, Haruka and Setsuna out. He doubted Minako had romantic interest in younger girls, so he ruled out Hotaru as well. His mind kept going... Ami, no... Makoto, no... And with the last option left, he had his answer. He shook his head.

'Of all the people,' he thought to himself. Not only was she as faithful to her duty as Minako, her vow to their princess was even more pronounced. It seemed Minako was in a hopeless scenario that was bound to end in heartbreak. 'Of all the people to fall in love with, it had to be her, didn't it?' He didn't want to see Minako's heart broken again, but it seemed as if he had to brace himself for her feelings of loneliness. He mewed quietly to himself.

"Rei."

A few days later, she found herself walking towards their school. It was nearing the end of the school week, and she had to meet up with them in order to go together to say goodbye to Mamoru. As she approached the gate, she could feel the stares she was getting. Being in her TA uniform obviously made her stand out, and she couldn't tell whether to be flattered by the cat calls she was receiving. Deciding to ignore it all together, she headed towards the front gate and stood there, waiting.

Finally, she saw an exuberant group of girls walking towards the front gate. Although normally there are many other exuberant groups of girls at schools, not many had blondes in their group and there were even fewer blonde's donning an odango hairstyle. Rei greeted her group of friends as they came towards her.

"Kenji-papa should be here soon to pick us up..." Usagi informed Rei, and she nodded. She could feel the hint of sadness Usagi felt in her voice. She put her hand on Usagi's shoulder and gave her a soft smile. Usagi gave her a small grin back. Rei looked at her other friends. Ami also had a small smile on her face. Minako, she noticed, was acting her usual; she took Usagi's hands and began to babble on about how she would be able to talk Mamoru all night long on the phone and how romantic it would be and similar ramblings. It was Makoto's expression that had confused Rei. Makoto had her eyes narrowed as she seemed to be thinking hard.

"Oh crap, I forgot something in my locker! You two, come with me." Makoto suddenly exclaimed. She grabbed Usagi and Ami by their wrists and started walking back towards the school. She noticed the worried look in Usagi's eyes. "Don't worry, those two will know which car is your dad's. We'll be back soon, you two!"

Rei nodded, her expression nonexpressive. Only on the outside, of course. That uncomfortable tension from days before completely escaladed t unbearably awkward. On the inside she was screaming in horror, not sure what to say to Minako. Minako was biting her lip, but quickly that changed back into a smile. She turned to Rei.

"Are you feeling... um. Better?" Minako asked. When Rei look confused, her smile was replaced by a small frown. Her next set of what were supposed to be sentences were less graceful than the previous one. "You know, cause the um. That last time you were sort of... um, Distant! Well, that's no different from how you usually are- I mean, but, you're nice to me and stuff. But something about you..." Minako looked terrified at the metaphorical word vomit dripping out of her mouth. There was also a look of worry in her eyes. However, Rei understood what she meant. Normally, Rei would have replied with a blunt response that would just further Minako's fuel, but not today. These circumstances called for a grown response; she was old enough to realize that. She breathed a deep breath and tried to form an eloquent response.

"I'm fine." Not as eloquent as Rei or Minako would have hoped. She attempted again, clearing her throat. "I mean, I'm not actually fine, but I realize what I need to do now in order to be fine. And when I am through with that, I will be fine, or atleast ready, to talk to you about what is on my mind." The worry in Minako's eyes disappeared, apparently satisfied with that response. Rei let out a sigh. She realized that when she looked into that fire that she was going to tell Minako, eventually. She just wasn't ready for it now.

Minako, glad that most of the awkwardness was gone, grabbed Rei's arm and smile. It made Rei's face turn pink, which Minako found cute. As long as Rei or anyone else wasn't aware of anything, she could still flirt, right? At that moment, though, Ami, Makoto and Usagi came back out the school. Makoto was holding a paper bag and Usagi was taking things out of the bag; cookies. Also at that moment, an SUV came pulling up next to them, Tsukino Kenji in the driver seat, looking disgruntled. In the passenger seat sat an uncomfortable Mamoru, who was feeling the disgruntled vibes from his future father-in-law. They all started piling into the seven-seater.

On the car ride to the airport, Minako couldn't help thinking that her guide didn't exactly help her with her problem with Rei. All Artemis had told her was everything she already knew, that her duty should be the most important thing, and to her it still was. She was starting to think of getting a second opinion on the matter...

When they got to the airport, they all started to help Mamoru with his luggage. Kenji told them that he would be waiting for them outside and to just meet him when they were ready to leave. They all nodded and started to head in. They helped to check in Mamoru's luggage and went with him until they couldn't go any farther. He smiled at all five of them.

"Thank you for protecting me today, ladies. Now, try not to get into too much trouble." He joked, and they giggled. "And Usagi..." He started to pull her to the side for a private conversation. Minako was giggling, wondering what they were talking about, which only humored Ami and Makoto. Rei, on the other hand, was spacing out. She had this sinking feeling in her gut, but she couldn't sense any danger. She only concentrated harder, to find the souce of her discomfort. It wasn't a foreign feeling and it didn't feel like it could cause physical danger, but it felt dangerous nonetheless.

"... don't worry Usako, I'll call you as soon as I get there! And a postcard too!" Mamoru told a sniffling Usagi. Rei wasn't sure if it was just that she was concentrating for a long time, or if their conversation was just short, but it seemed like no time had passed when she was searching for the source of the danger.

"Bye... Mamo-chan." Usagi sniffled. They kissed and parted ways. Ami and Makoto went to comfort Usagi, Ami holding one of her hands and Makoto putting her arm around Usagi's shoulders. Minako, on the other hand, was concerned about Rei. She noticed the look of concentration on her face earlier. A look that Rei only wore if there were any signs of danger. As they were heading towards the exit, Minako had to ask Rei. They were a few steps behind the others.

"Is there a new threat?" she whispered, almost inaudible among the hustle and bustle of the airport. Rei shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I felt a presence, but it didn't feel like it was out to harm anyone..." She trailed off, stopping in her tracks. She felt the presence again, stronger than ever. Her eyes widened and she started running away from exit and towards another terminal. 'It can't be... This can't be!' She kept running, and she could barely hear Minako's voice crying out "Rei." She had to see if it was who she had been looking for. She reached a gate where people were just stepping off a plane. The presence was strongest here.

She stopped dead in her tracks, in front of door the people were exiting. Minako had stopped a couple of feet away from her, confused as ever. Rei examined the people that were coming off the plane. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, her fists clenched. Many types of people were coming out of the plane: tall, small, skinny, fat, somewhere in between... After a couple of minutes, a family that was exiting that caught her eye. A little boy was yawning as he came through the door. His mother, who was holding his hand, walked sleepily behind him.

Then, the person Rei was looking for was came walking out. The person she saw in the fire. The reason that she was feeling a dangerous presence. The person wasn't a danger to the public, he was a danger to her. The clean shaven face, the slightly messy hair due to the long flight, the glasses, the friendly smile... Rei stopped breathing as soon as she caught sight of him. She swallowed the lump beginning to form in her throat. All of the emotions and memories flooded through her brain: the anger, the sadness, the heartbreak that eventually lead to her become solitary. She locked eyes with him, and he looked at her in surprise. Finally, she breathed in only to breathe out an undetectable whisper.

"Kaidou."


	4. Opening Up

**ATTN:** ** Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or these characters, the fabulous Naoko Takeuchi does. I'm sorry this took so long to get out, this chapter was a bit challenging for me to write, but it's here now! In order to be consistent I'm going to try releasing the chapters bi-weekly. The story is going to be halfway done by the time this chapter is over! Oh no! But enjoy what's left, I implore you. ;)**

Minako held her breath as she watched Rei's stony gaze. She noticed Rei tense up and began to worry.

Rei held her gaze with Kaidou. He began to start walking towards her. Her mind started racing. After what seemed to be a grueling forever he was finally standing right in front of her. He ran a hand through his messy hair and gave her a polite smile.

"Ah, Ms. Hino, what a surprise! I didn't expect to see you here." 'As if you were expecting to see me anywhere…'Rei bit her lip, trying to avoid and sarcastic comeback she had brewing.

"Hello Mr. Kaidou, I was just seeing a friend off when I saw you."

"Well it's a pleasure to be seeing you again. It's been, what, two... three years since I've last seen you?"

"Something like that, yes." Rei could tell this conversation would only consist of small talk. If she wanted to gain anything from seeing him, the man following in her father's footsteps, she would have to more drastic measures.

"You're looking more and more like your mother every time I see you." Rei turned slightly red at that. She then heard someone calling out Kaidou's name, a woman's voice. He turned and gestured for her to wait a little. His son was getting restless, as Rei could see.

"I'm assuming this isn't the best place to play catch-up, now is it?" He turned back to Rei, chuckling.

"I suppose not, Ms. Hino. But seeing as I would love to, how about I pick you up for dinner later? Just the two of us, like old times?" He had traces of a hopeful smile on his mouth. Rei thought about it. She couldn't tell if this was the devil tempting her, or just an opportunity to gain what she needed to move on. Should she take the risk?

"I... what about your..." She pointed towards his family. She cringed on the inside at the word. He looked towards where she pointed.

"Don't worry. They'd be too tired to join us, if anything they would want their rest. I think Hana would understand."

_So that's her name?_ Rei thought with a slight hint of malice. She bit her lip and he looked at her slightly confused.

"Okay..." Rei swallowed another lump building in her throat. "I- I'm not busy later so..."

"Seven o'clock sound good? And you're still at the temple?" Rei nodded. "Good. I'll see you later then. And... please, wear the white dress." He walked away towards his wife. She watched as he picked up his son and put him on his shoulders. He still seemed to be a kind man.

Rei lingered there for a few moments. 'Oh spirits, what in the world am I thinking?' She began to walk back towards the exit. This seemed more like a date than anything else. A date with the man that broke her heart so many years ago. The memories of she had buried so long ago were coming back, but she shook it off. This was necessary. She knew it was. She wanted to progress, to grow in order to finally completely accept her feelings but... Minako. She walked to where a staring Minako was. Her heart was beating, Minako's gaze directly at her. The blue eyes looked confusedly towards Rei.

"Ne, Rei. Who was that?" Minako hoped the tone came out more teasing than jealous. Thankfully, it did for Rei.

"Were you watching the whole time?" Rei said in horror. Minako nodded nonchalantly, causing Rei to blush.

"But who was that? Your secret boyfriend? Your lover!" Minako started, feigning the excited tone. In reality, she was very jealous. Rei never talked about any men in her life, simply because she said she wasn't interested. This was why Minako never felt worried about losing her to a man... that and the fact that Rei had completely given her life to the Princess. As did she. But that was a completely different problem in itself. She noticed that Rei's face had shifted from a faint blush to very pale. This was because of Minako's excessive association of Kaidou as Rei's lover. But Minako, not knowing this, started to freak out. "Oh my gosh Rei! What happened? Was it something I said? Damn it Rei, say something!" Rei nodded. She managed to pull herself together to say something.

"I thought I told you earlier... I'll- be able to talk to you once I've settled with everything I need to. I think we should go, I kept them waiting long enough." This managed to calm Minako down, only by a little bit. They started to walk towards the exit. Her curiosity was eating her alive, but she knew she needed to wait. It wasn't a good idea to push Rei, especially if it affected her this much.

Minako smiled to herself, 'Atleast she's willing to talk to me, even if it is later. But I... I never thought about this, but what exactly does she want to talk about?' She looked towards her beautiful best friend. Rei had that look of concentration again. "I- Rei... was that the dangerous presence you felt?" Minako asked. Rei merely gave her a glance and then looked straight ahead. Minako sighed, 'I guess I'll have to wait until she's ready to find that out too... but I'll assume that means yes.'

They were passing some phonebooths when Minako had an idea. "Rei, go tell the others that I'll be there soon. I know they must be worried about us but I... I have a call to make." Rei looked confused but did as she was told. Minako maneuvered her way to an open phone. She took out the necessary money to make a call. The phone rang five times before Minako the person she was calling picked up the phone.

"Ah, hello? ... Michiru! Just the person I needed. Are you home right now? ... Of course you are, you picked up the phone. Anyway, I was wondering if I could come over. ... I just need a few answers to my questions, that's all. ... Available right now? Okay, thank you! I'm on my way." Minako hung up the phone. She hoped this would have better results than her question time with Artemis...

...Minako waved goodbye to her friends as they drove away. Before leaving the airport, Rei had finished explaining to the others what had happened while she and Minako were gone. When they got back in the car, Minako told them that she needed to visit Michiru, only, she made sure to word it so the others wouldn't be suspicious. She looked at the large home that housed the Outer Senshi. She took a deep breath and went up to the door. She rang the doorbell and waited a few moments. She heard the pitter patter of footsteps getting louder as someone approached the door. When it opened, Minako grinned largely.

"Ah, hey Hotaru!"

"Hello Minako." She responded. Minako looked at the girl, who looked as if she was dressed to go out. Hotaru lead Minako in and they started walking down the hallway.

"Going somewhere?"

"Mhmm. Haruka-papa and I are going to pick up some food right now. Setsuna-mama was too tired from work to cook anything and Michiru-mama told us that we should probably pick up food because you were coming over." Minako looked over to Hotaru in small surprise.

"I'm sorry to cause so much trouble!" Minako grinned sheepishly.

"Heh, don't worry about it. It gives us some father-daughter time." Another, much older voice said. Minako looked forward and saw Haruka coming out the door, smirking. "I just wonder what's so important that you needed to come over here and talk." She seemed to search Minako's eyes for answers, but Minako looked away and blushed. Haruka chuckled to herself.

"Hotaru, let's head out now. Ne, Minako, she's just through this door."

Minako opened the door into another room. Michiru was sitting on a couch, sipping from her tea cup and flipping through a book. Minako took a couple more steps towards Michiru when she put her tea cup on the table in front of her, closed her book and also set it on the table. She looked up at Minako and gave her a small smile. She gestured for Minako to take a seat next to her. Minako walked the rest of the way towards the opposite end of the couch and took a seat. Rather comfortable, she noted.

"Hello there Minako. Care for some tea? It must have been very important for you to come drive all the way here. Is there another threat coming along?" Michiru's small smile had faded and her eyes were looking into Minako's searching for any clue about the upcoming topic. Minako thought for a moment about the best way to word it.

"I... technically, there isn't another threat. But I mean, it's a possible danger to the princess." This was a very wrong way of putting it.

"A danger to the princess! Minako you have to tell me what this threat is. I don't know why you wanted to talk to me just personally... I should go call Ruka..." The dedicated senshi began to start getting up from her position, but Minako stopped her.

"Michiru! That wasn't what I meant!" Michiru turned around, giving Minako a slightly confused look.

"Perhaps you could reword what you mean, then?" Minako nodded.

"I just wanted to ask... Well I need advice." Michiru arched an eyebrow.

'Couldn't she just have asked me over the phone if she needed advice? And what does this have to with Usagi?' Michiru thought. She kept her thoughts to herself, of course. "Well go ahead. Ask away."

"I was just wondering... how did you and Haruka end up together...?" Michiru was caught off guard at the, for lack of a more appropriate word, random question. She checked to see if Minako had any signs of her usual joking in her eyes, but it was apparent that she didn't. She sighed.

"Well, I can tell you, just don't let Ruka know I went into the full details." Michiru began to tell Minako the details. How she was the one that instigated everything, how Ruka was actually a bit scared by it. But the most important thing that she mentioned was that it was their duty that brought them together.

"Ah... So it was your mission that indirectly decided it..." Minako looked away to take a sip of tea. She was in deep thought again. Perhaps Michiru was the best person to ask, given this situation.

"I'm just curious, but is there any particular reason that you wanted to hear out story."

"Well, I guess you could say I'm finding myself in a similar situation... I like someone."

"But when don't you?" Michiru dead panned, but by the annoyance on Minako's face, she could tell this was serious.

"Is this also the same reason why the princess may be in danger?" Minako nodded. Michiru thought about it for a moment. She took a sip of her tea and put two and two together.

"If you like Rei, why don't you just go for her?" By the look on Minako's face, she guessed who it was correctly. She chuckled.

"Well it's not like I can just sweep her off her feet and ride off into the sunset."

"Why not? She clearly isn't into men." Minako sighed in frustration while Michiru chuckled some more.

"Michiru, please don't joke right now. I'm just completely lost." Minako's voice trailed off. Michiru decided perhaps she should follow her friend's order and tone back on any jokes until later. Her friend needed guidance.

"I'm sorry, it's hard to resist sometimes. So what seems to be blocking you and Rei from your romantic sunset?"

"Well, first of all, I don't even know if she feels anything like I do." At this, Michiru smiled inwardly. She could guess otherwise. "And we're sort of on the same boat when it comes to being horribly attached to our duty."

"If you haven't noticed Haruka and I are also attached to our duties. In fact, our relationship has helped us become more focused."

"But Rei and me... We aren't the same as you two. And we've made vows. She has chosen a chaste life. And I've vowed always to choose my duty over love." At this, Michiru paused. She began to think long and hard. She nodded to herself, took a sip of her tea, and then spoke.

"If I may be honest, I don't see why you can't have both your duty and love. This ordeal... it's different. It isn't some small crush with a cute boy you've just met, is it? I didn't think so. This is your comrade, your second-in-command. Somebody who, whether you like it or not, you will be spending the rest of your forever with."

"But our vows-"

"Minako. People change. I bet when you made this vow, you expected never to fall in love, let alone with another girl. You expected that there wouldn't be anything to shift your attention away from the Princess. But it happened, didn't it? Just be glad it's someone who shares your duty with you. And, if you really wanted to stay true to your vow, I don't think you'd be here right now."

There was another silence as Minako thought about it. It was true. If she really, really wanted to stay true to her word, she wouldn't have asked for advice on what to do. She would have kept looking forward. Perhaps love wasn't a bad choice. After all, it was just as Michiru said, maybe they would actually become stronger because of the relationship, maybe their love would make them stronger. Minako began to make up her mind.

Yet, there were still two problems. First, what would she do if Rei didn't reciprocate any of her feelings? She thought about when she caught Rei staring at her. Maybe it was because she was making a spectacle of herself. 'Maybe it's because I am just _that_ beautiful.' She bit her lip. Secondly, what about Usagi? There was that possibility the relationship could ruin their duty just as much as it could strengthen it. But there was also that possibility for improvement. Minako contemplated everything and had finally decided what she wanted to do.

"Michiru, I think I know what I want to do. I don't see why I should treat this differently from how I treat my other problems." Michiru tilted her head, thinking what Minako could possibly mean.

"And by that, I mean that I should just go into this head on. I mean, if I don't do anything, then things are going to stay the same; I'll be slowly rotting inside while I'll never find out if Rei feels more than just a small attraction towards me. And I may as well do things now while there isn't a current threat." The door opened as Minako finished talking. Michiru smirked, half because she was able to help her friend, half because Haruka was the one to open the door.

"Well, if there isn't a threat, I'm guessing you're here for other business?" Haruka poked at Minako. Minako, who had not noticed Haruka's entrance, was surprised by the third voice.

"I, uh… Think it's getting late." Minako changed the subject. Haruka tilted her head.

"Late? It's only around six. What's going on-"

"Ruka, babe, do you think you can take Minako home?"

"Wait, but I-"

"Awesome! Thanks Haruka. But actually… I think I need to go somewhere else first."

"Okay, I'll take you where ever you want, but can someone just tell me what's going on?"

"I will when you get home, okay? But I think Minako really needs to get going." Michiru smiled knowingly at the younger blonde. Haruka, obviously frustrated, just grunted. Minako gather her things, mouthing a "thank you" at Michiru, who nodded.

"But what about the food we bought for Minako?" Haruka asked, but Michiru brushed away the question and gestured for them to leave. Thoroughly disgruntled, the short-haired woman gave up and decided to go along with her lover.

"And, Minako, about that whole chaste thing..." Michiru started as Haruka and Minako walked away. Both of them turned around, Haruka confused. "You could always just die a virgin." Minako furrowed her eyebrows and Haruka just looked even more confused.

"Fuck that." And the two of them laughed together for the first time this evening, leaving Haruka confused and out of the loop. Haruka looked to Michiru, who gave her a look that seemed to say 'I'll explain when you get back."

Minako thanked Haruka as she was dropped off away from the temple. She walked slowly, trying to contain herself. She was excited and nervous at the same time to see Rei. She knew she could tell Rei, that she didn't need to be scared. But then she remembered that Rei also needed to clear things up in her mind before she talked to her. It couldn't hurt to visit Rei thought, could it? Minako trekked on, not letting anything dampen her mood, her enlightened state.

However, what Minako saw not only put out her fire, but began to flood around it as well. She was a few yards away from the bottom steps of the temple, and looked on curiously to see a car parked in front of the temple. Minako saw the man from earlier waiting outside the car, eagerly. Minako furrowed her eyebrows, confused. What was he doing here? But then it became clear, as she saw a wonderful sight walking slowly down the stairs. A raven haired girl in a white dress seemed to float down the steps. A stunning sight. She graciously took the bouquet of flowers from the man, and proceeded to enter his car. Minako just stared as they drove away. Minako stood corrected. Not only did it dampen her mood, it left her sad and engrossed in jealousy.


	5. Fighting Feelings

**ATTN: Happy Holidays! Look who's back after a year long hiatus. You guess it! Me. I'm sorry that it has been so long, I felt compelled to read my old fanfiction and I realized that I never finished this one! Sorry for leaving you at that cliffhanger! Just fair warning that, since it has been more than a year, I may stylistically be different as well as the nuances and details being different from my original intent. But you know the drill. Disclaimer – I don't own nothing, enjoy what I have to offer! **

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><p>"… your order will be coming momentarily," the waiter stated while taking their menus. Rei and Kaidou politely thanked him as he walked away.<p>

"Allow me to excuse myself for a moment, Ms. Hino."

Rei nodded as Kaidou slowly left his seat and walked away, presumably to the restroom. Rei took this time to collect her thoughts. She couldn't, for the life of her, get over the anxiety building in her stomach. Or was it nerves? Regardless of that feeling, she knew that tonight, that right now was the moment to get the closure she needed. Or it could be just the moment to reopen all the old wounds that had healed and then pour salt onto them. She shook her head at the thought.

'I'm doing this for my sanity's sake.' This affirmation allowed the nerves/anxiety to settle momentarily as she looked around the restaurant. There was smooth, live music playing the background and the atmosphere was warm. She noticed that some patrons were happily dining and chit-chatting amongst themselves and enjoying it. There were a few that were quietly whispering around them. Of course not quietly enough.

"… what an odd couple they are…"

"… didn't he have a wedding ring?…"

'Just like old times.' Rei smirked at the thought. And, save for him being married, everything was like old times, even down to the silly white dress and flowers. Her attention shifted as she noticed him walking back. She began to look closely at him – same handsome face, same kind smile, same glasses. All just more tired looking.

"I'm sorry for leaving you, Ms. Hino."

"It's alright. Duty calls, yes?" They both chuckled. There was a brief, uncomfortable pause afterwards. Rei was the one to break it.

"So, Mr. Kaidou –"

"Please, you know me, just call me Kaidou."

"Then please call me Rei." Another pause. He looked at her with tired, sad eyes.

"You know I can't do that."

'Right, of course, you're completely my father's lackey now.' Rei scoffed at the idea.

"Well then, Mr. Kaidou, I was just going to ask how my father was." He furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he conjured a response.

"He's busy as always, you know. He's trying to get this new bill to pass that gets the government to…" He stopped talking when he noticed Rei's eyes immediately lose interest at the mention of this bill.

"Well it's nice to know he's still the same," her tone without any endearment attached.

"Mr. Kaidou, you look tired." He chuckled in recognition.

"Yes, well, having a child and working for your father can take a lot of energy out of you."

"What's your child's name?" Rei noticed a change in Kaidou's demeanor when she asked this question.

"Koichi. He's a bright boy, he is. He's very outgoing as well, like his mother."

"Your wife…" Rei noticed the words slip out her mouth before she could stop it, and she wished the way she said it didn't sound so hurt.

"Um, yes, what about her?" Kaidou didn't quite know to respond her.

"You all seemed happy." It was all she could come up with. However, Kaidou nodded enthusiastically.

"We are. I'm content with the life I have now." He smiled at her. His strange word choice was the perfect opening for Rei.

"Content?" He arched an eye brow. "Only content." He nodded slowly. "But not happy?"

"Well I meant them as interchangeable…" he eyed her, slightly suspicious of where this was going.

"Oh. Well I just thought… Well do you ever wonder, what if," there was a small pause as she tried to find the proper phrasing. "what if you didn't pick your career over –" He lifted his finger in an attempt to quiet her.

"I will admit that I don't. Not anymore. I've grown to love my wife. At the beginning of my marriage, I used to think, what if you and I did run away together, the kindred spirits that we were. But, over time I realized that I had changed, Ms. Hino. My priorities changed as well as my goals. As much personal want as I may have had for you… Despite that, I am content."

'Only content.' She kept thinking to herself. She searched deeply into this man eyes, her violet eyes piercing. And then, just like that, she eased up and smiled at him. He smiled back. She had her answers. She was content.

"Well I'm glad you are."

"So no hard feelings?"

"None at all." It was the truth.

"Well, good! Because I would like to hear a little bit about your life now, Ms Hino…" The mood became lighter as the tension had left. Rei felt as she could enjoy the rest of the evening as two old friends now rather than two of whatever they were before. A delicious aroma hit her nose as the waiter came by with their food.

"And for your first course we have…"

She walked up the temple stairs and went straight to her room. She placed the bouquet of casa blanca lilies on her bed and took off her white dress. She fell onto her bed, mentally and emotionally exhausted. But she was satisfied with the outcome of the night because she felt she could finally move on. Maybe now that she had things figured out, she could get some sleep.

'I can pursue this.' She decided. 'Just hearing him talk tonight… He was only content in choosing his career over his heart. And that only left me heartbroken.' She flipped around to lay down on her side. 'If I only choose to follow only my duty, I'll be content at best and be plagued by what ifs. But if I follow this feelings, perhaps I'll truly be happy. And Minako won't be the one left heartbr-'

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden realization. Her eyes opened wide and as she rolled to lay on her back she smacked her forehead with both of her hands. 'I don't even know if she likes me like that!' Even if Minako did flirt with her, Rei couldn't differentiate that between plain old flirting or actual romantic feelings because she flirted with many others as well. Some sort of sound of exasperation left her mouth. It seemed she was going to have another sleepless night…

The next day, the girls were studying at Rei's. But there was something outstanding about this study session, Makoto decided. It was way too quiet. Rei was fidgeting with her pen as she kept trying to discretely look at the blonde with the red bow. Kind of normal. Ami had Usagi's complete attention, teaching her how to conquer these math problems. Strange. Minako, eyebrows furrowed, made a complete effort to ignore the raven haired girl next to her, instead choosing to do her chemistry problems. Very, very, _very_ strange. Makoto was about to say something, when Rei beat her to it.

"Hey Minako, are you okay?" Rei whispered to her. However, this whisper attracted the other girls' attention as well. Deciding the girls needed their privacy, Makoto pretended she needed help with her math as well, asking Ami for help. This got Ami back on track and Usagi was unwillingly pulled in to it all as well.

Minako looked up from her balanced equations. She turned slowly and looked Rei dead in the eyes. What Rei saw confused her. Pain. Anger. Sadness. It was all in those blue eyes. Rei's mouth opened, but nothing came out. Minako looked away and started packing her things.

"I think I got enough done today. My parents want me home early anyway. I'll see you all tomorrow." Minako's voice was cold. She picked up her stuff and walked out the door.

Makoto turned and caught Rei's attention. "What did you do?" she mouthed at Rei. Rei narrowed her eyes in slight offense, but shrugged it off. They held each other's gaze for a moment before Rei broke it off to go after Minako.

Minako walked away, outwardly calm. But inwardly there was a mess of emotion. The night before had quickly worked Minako into a frenzy of confusion. Seeing Rei drive off in the car of the handsome gentleman ('– no not gentleman – lady stealer' Minako interjected) had made Minako speculate wildly. She had, at this point, convinced herself that they were involved romantically and Rei was trying to cover it up. There were many reasons she could have pretended she was upset for: the complete disregard of her oath ('Which would be completely hypocritical'), the fact that she is her best friend and she could be trusted with any secret, the fact that Rei's lover is apparently married with a child and that just goes into all sorts of moral wrong, but in reality, Minako was plain old jealous. It was completely enrapturing any common sense that she could apply to the situation.

'I really can't deal with any of this right now. I need time to think.' She let out a frustrated breath. When she heard the footsteps behind her, she let out another frustrated breath. She could not deal with this right now.

"Minako, what is wrong with you?" Rei cringed. Not the right way of putting it. Minako turned around on her heels and they were almost butting heads. Her face was flushed with anger.

"What is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you!" The angry blonde's voice began to pick up in volume. "You ride off with some guy, who had a kid for God's sake, doing God only knows what and – "

"Minako you don't understand – "

"No _you_ don't understand. I cannot deal with this right now. You know how you weren't ready to talk about anything? Now I'm not. Just leave me alone."

She walked away slowly, down the stairs of the temple, and then she was gone. Rei stared after her. She longed to run after her and make her understand everything, explain it all. That he wasn't anyone, that he was just an old friend, an acquaintance really, an old flame… one that's been completely put out. But she didn't. She knew she would have to wait patiently for her leader to calm down. Approaching her when she was this upset would only go badly. Rei sighed. Things were just making sense for her and now the anxious/nervous feeling from before was making its way back into the pit of her stomach.

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><p><strong>AN:Yowch. I apologize if this was hard to get through, I'm still trying to work off the fanfiction writing rust I have. I can promise that the next chapters should be fun. And up! I'll try being more consistent with updates.**


	6. Finally

**Hello hello! I'm back… a year and a half later. Better extremely late… than never? I just thought in honor of the reboot, which is bound to give me so much shipping inspiration, I would finish this story around the time it comes out. So three chapters in three weeks. I will keep this promise, it will happen. Enjoy the rest of the story!**

Ami had gotten into a rhythm. Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe and repeat, until she reached the other side of the pool. She found the swimming therapeutic in situations such as this - it was relaxing, energizing and allowed her to think all at once. She thought about the events that had happened two nights ago. When Rei walked back in, she tried to act as if nothing had happened, but everyone knew there was something going on. They had all left soon after because Rei was emitting such an intense aura that they all felt compelled to.

The day after, there was a study session at Minako's, but Rei didn't attend, which seemed out of place as well. When asked, Minako mumbled something about temple duties and quickly changed subjects, suddenly finding her English homework a lot more interesting. After leaving the Aino residence, Ami and Makoto could only speculate what was going on between the two.

"Lover's quarrel," Makoto stated bluntly. Ami shook her head.

"There you are again, just assuming…" Ami started, but Makoto interrupted.

"But what else could it be? If they were just friends fighting, you would think they would have to come us by now."

"Yes, but the amount of stubborn Rei possesses within her is inhuman, and Minako is just as prideful."

"You have a point… Maybe we should just go to them."

That was the last thing Makoto said before they parted ways that night. They acknowledged this may be the best way to get them to open up about what was going on, but a part of Ami felt as if she didn't know how to go about it and if she should even be doing so.

Finishing her last lap for the day, she got out of the pool. She went to the locker room to change and once she finished, she exited through the gymnasium and heard the sounds of balls hitting the floor intensely and sporadically. She stopped to look around and saw a figure serving volleyballs across the court. As the figure served their last volleyball, they switched sides and began repeating this process.

Ami approached the sweaty, blonde figure.

"Nice serve," Ami noted. The blonde stopped in the middle of her next serve to look over at her. She gave Ami a soft smile.

"Thank you," she replied as placed the ball on the floor. "Been here long?"

"Oh no, I just swam a few laps at the pool. How about you?" Minako shifted her gaze away from Ami.

"Hours." Ami looked at Minako's arms. The undersides of her forearms and hands were a bright red and looked as if they were starting to bruise from the impact of her volleyball playing.

"Maybe you should take a break? Your arms are almost as red as your bow. And besides, we have a meeting at the temple soon."

Minako looked at over at Ami for a moment, shook her head and picked up another ball to serve.

"I'm not going today," she stated bluntly. Her next serve flew with such force it seemed like the impact it made with the floor might have created a dent. Ami noticed her arms were shaking.

"Minako, what are you doing to yourself? Wearing yourself down isn't going to solve anything!"

Minako turned toward the blue haired girl, who pursed her lips and looked away. She seemed to be thinking hard.

Minako furrowed her brow and asked,

"What do you mean by 'solve anything?'"

"We aren't as oblivious to our surroundings as you think we are. We can feel the tension in the air and… and we know that there is something going on."

Minako dropped the ball that was in her hand. She turned to Ami again, confusion and anger in her eyes.

"What can you all possibly know? I don't even have a handle on what's going anymore, what the hell can you possibly know!" She lashed out, but it didn't phase Ami. Ami came closer to Minako.

"We're your friends and comrades. I want you to know that we are here to listen and to try to understand - please allow us to help by at least listening."

The tone in her voice was calming for Minako. Minako let out a sigh, and as the breath left her mouth, so did the barrier she put up. She lowered herself to sit on the floor. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and she buried her head in her arms.

"I hate her," she mumbled into her legs. Ami wasn't sure she heard her correctly. She came closer and sat next to her.

"Um, what was that Minako?" She looked up towards the blue haired girl.

"I-I… I said I hate Rei. I hate her" The look in her eyes pierced Ami. Minako bit her lip and buried her head in her arms once again. Ami had no idea how to respond to that.

'That was not what was I was expecting at all,' Ami thought to herself. She spent a few moments looking at Minako before replying.

"That was not what I was expecting." Minako looked up to Ami, the piercing frustration was replaced with piercing sadness. She let out another side and fell onto her back. She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head.

"I lied," Minako replied. "I think I - No. I know I like her, I really do…"

'That makes a lot more sense, it looks like you were right Makoto.' Ami thought to herself. She looked expectantly at Minako, since it seemed she had more to add, but Minako was biting her lip.

"But?" Ami tried to nudge her friend along. Minako flipped over onto her stomach. She took a deep breath.

"But she doesn't feel the same." Ami tried to smile to comfort her friend. She placed her hand on Minako's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't realize and I completely understand if you don't wish to go today," Ami looked towards her emotionally confused leader. She didn't expect this turn of events, since Makoto seemed so sure it was a mutual exchange of feelings. "When did she tell you that she didn't… You know."

"Oh she didn't."

'Wait, what?' Ami's sympathetic look quickly turned into one of confusion, and Minako felt it.

"Well not directly, I mean." Minako shifted again into the same sitting position as Ami, a lotus.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean… she has feelings for someone else."

"Who? That is so sudden." Minako thought for a moment. She already felt as if she said too much.

"I can… trust you not to tell the others until this whole situation gets figured out, right?"

"Of course, please just tell me what's happening."

"I saw her go on a date with a man."

"What." Ami accidentally let that out of her mouth. But who could blame her? This didn't sound like the Rei she knew. The Rei who had sworn off men, who had publicly stated her dislike of them, suddenly is going on a date with one? Minako let out one chuckle.

"I was surprised too, but I she was wearing a dress and he gave her flowers. She was stunning, Ami. Breath-taking. And it was for him." There was heartache in her voice again. Ami thought briefly. It could make sense but it also didn't. There wasn't enough facts to make it true. She took a deep breath.

"How do you know it was a date though?"

"Ami, look at the signs! The dress, the bou-"

"But how do you know, how can you be one hundred percent sure that this was a date? Did she tell you?"

"I, I just have a feeling that…"

"Minako, you see? You can't be completely sure that that is what happened." Minako realized that Ami was right. But now she also felt kind of like an asshat for not hearing Rei out the other day.

"I… probably should have let her finish talking, shouldn't I?" Ami nodded. A light appeared in Minako's eyes again. She jumped up. "I'm going there right now."

"Are you sure you don't want to head home and shower first?" Minako laughed.

"There isn't time for that! You said the meeting was soon right?"

"Well, in an hour, give or take."

"Nope, no time!" Minako gathered her things and hugged Ami, sweat and all. "Thank you so much Ami! Bless your logical ways!"

She ran off, leaving Ami covered in her sweat. The blue haired girl chuckled to herself. She was glad she could help out her leader, especially in this case of romance. 'My logical ways...' She smiled to herself.

* * *

><p>Rei was finishing up her duties before the others got there. Her sweeping motions automated as she her mind kept thinking what she could have done so she wouldn't be in this situation and what she would say when Minako finally came around to talk to her. Her eyes were glued to the dust she was sweeping as her thoughts kept cycling. She was so enraptured by her thoughts that she didn't notice someone coming up the steps of the temple.<p>

"Need some help?"

Rei, startled by the sudden presence of someone else, let out a gasp. The hearty chuckles of the brunette standing before her earned a dirty look from Rei.

"Not particularly. What are you doing here?" Rei bluntly asked. Makoto pretended to shiver.

"Oh, it just got cold, Rei," she joked. Rei rolled her eyes. "I got bored so I'm just here early for the meeting."

"Well I don't need your help, it's just sweeping." Despite her warnings, Makoto grabbed a broom and helped her anyway.

"You know I don't mind helping." Rei sighed but didn't fight it. They swept quietly for a minute before Makoto brought up her actual agenda.

"So… I-"

"She hates me Makoto." That was not how Makoto expected this to start out. Hell, this was better.

"Minako?" Rei could pretend to be surprised but she knew at this point they weren't being subtle about the tension between them.

"I did something and she hates me now." Makoto laughed at that. That wasn't the reaction Rei was expecting by any means.

"You think so?" Rei nodded. Makoto laughed again. "If that's what is bothering you… I think you have nothing to worry about."

"But, she doesn't want to talk to me or let me explain myself-" Makoto shook her head.

"That's going to pass over soon, just give her time. I promise you, you have nothing to worry about."

"But-"

"Just trust me, okay? I know that she blames you for something, but just trust me, yes?" Rei knew this wasn't the best reason to trust someone, but Makoto's confidence just made her feel reassured for whatever reason. She smiled half heartedly at Makoto. There was another pause in conversation. The sound of sweeping filled the temple. Birds were chirping and singing.

'Just give it time, don't worry Rei. She's right. Hopefully. You just need time.' Rei thought to herself. She inhaled the scents of the temple and -

"Oh, another reason I came early was just to tell you that me and Ami aren't going to be here later."

"What." Panic. So much panic was taking over Rei.

"Yeah, something came up for me and Ami said some super important classes came up, but you'll get enough done without us. And wow, it looks like we're done sweeping. I should probably head out for that… thing. See ya, Rei."

Rei looked on as Makoto walked away. Of course she wanted to talk to Minako. She wanted to resolve this matter, she knew what she wanted. But she didn't think it would be happening right now. She may have replayed how she thought the conversation would occur in her head multiple times the past 48 hours but she didn't think it would happen so quickly.

'I really need some tea right now.'

* * *

><p>Minako arrived at the temple, dried sweat all over her body.<p>

'I really showered or changed clothes before coming here,' but in her excitement and newly found hope she couldn't help but get here as soon as possible. 'Hopefully my deodorant helps me out enough.'

She looked around, and, in seeing that the courtyard was empty, she headed towards their meeting room. She stopped right in front of the door. Only this sliding door separated her from the truth. This flimsy, sliding door. She took a deep breath and reached for the handle. Her hand shook as she reached. So much could change after this conversation. Or worse, nothing could change. Things could stay as they are now, and she wasn't sure if she wanted that anymore. The fear of the unknown was both begging her to go on and pulling her back.

'Aphrodite, help me.'

She pulled the door open, where the piercing violet eyes met her gaze.

"I'm ready to talk if you are." Rei wasn't sure when she was coming, but sensed her presence. She had been preparing since then. She looked over at her frazzled friend - still in her slightly revealing gym uniform, oh my, - took a sip from her tea and responded.

"Yes. Please, uh, sit with me." Minako closed the door behind her and sat with Rei. There was tension floating in the air. Neither knew where to start: Rei felt the butterflies trying to get out her stomach, Minako's mouth started to become dry. They both had so many questions, and so many answers for one another - neither could find that starting point. All the mental preparation they had for this moment had gone out the window the moment they laid eyes on each other. It felt as if years had passed in the thirty seconds of silence they sat in before Rei finally began to speak.

"Do you want some tea?"

'Oh,' Minako thought, disappointed that it wasn't anything addressing the herd of elephants in the room. "Yes please."

Rei's hands shook as she poured Minako some tea. The blonde nodded in thanks towards Rei and sipped her drink. Minako took a deep breath as she opened her mouth. Rei turned her head towards her, waiting expectantly. Minako closed it briefly, licked her dry lips, and began the much needed conversation.

"I'm sorry about my outburst the other day Rei, I know I should have at least heard what you had to say but when you think you find out a huge secret like I did, it's hard to keep calm."

"You mean Kaidou?" Rei asked. She could explain that misunderstanding if that was all Minako was upset about, but her true feelings were what she was truly worried about. Minako nodded.

"I'm assuming that's him. The one you wore the dress for, the one who gave you flowers..."

"That - what you saw a few days ago isn't what you think."

"Oh? It isn't?" There was acidic tone to her voice that she wished wasn't there.

"No, in fact, it wasn't. He and I are just… old friends. He works with my father and we were just catching up since I hadn't seen him in awhile."

"That doesn't explain the dress. Or the flowers."

"The flowers are my favorite flowers and he would always bring me them when we met up when we were younger. I also always wore that dress. We were just keeping up traditions."

"It still seems like a date to me." Rei sighed out of frustration. She knew Minako wanted an answer that would satisfy her and justify her earlier anger, even if she did apologize for it.

"Well, what do you want to hear? That I'm in love with him? Well you won't hear that because it's not the truth. The truth is, at one point I was. I thought we would run away from my father's politics together, I thought that he would choose me over his career but he didn't. And when he broke my heart, I vowed my life of chastity because I knew I would want someone that was all mine and only mine and that my passion for them would probably eat them alive. Is that a satisfactory answer?"

Minako stared at Rei. She went through a cycle of different emotions - jealousy, anger, sadness, fear, relief - before she could finally spit out the words:

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit a nerve. But…"

"What."

"If you feel such anger towards him, towards his actions, why were you with him the other day?"

"I… I needed answers. I needed to know why he did what he did. I needed to know if he was happy with his life. And I got the answers I needed from him."

"Well… did you get your answers?"

"I did. He was only content. And I got my closure."

"And…?"

There was another pause as Rei shifted her gaze away.

"Please don't punish me."

"What?" Minako was confused. What the hell did she mean by that? "Why would I... what?"

"I mean, it's because I found an answer that goes against our duty, Minako. I found through him that, maybe, just maybe, choosing duty completely over my personal needs may not always be the best path."

Silence. They looked into each other's eyes, trying to get an understanding of one another. Rei seemed scared to Minako. Minako's expression was a lot softer than Rei expected. Rei became a little less tense as she looked into Minako's eyes.

"This might sound insane, but I've found out the same thing as well." Rei felt relief, as well as confusion. She buried her head in her hands and laughed out loud, catching Minako by surprise.

"Listen to us! Are we even the same people anymore? Hahaha!" Minako half smiled in response.

"Seriously. But listen to me Rei." She grabbed Rei's face to ensure her full attention. Her hand lingered on Rei's cheek and Rei could feel her face turning red at the sudden touch. Minako bit her lip in restraint before speaking.

"Over the past few days I've also figured out things for myself. We might have made these vows when we were younger, but people change. We've changed since then. Never in our wildest dreams could we predict the events that would happen to us later on. So we could stay our stubborn selves and keep our vows, our duties and we could stay, as you say, content. Or we could pursue what we want. And of course we shouldn't completely disregard our duties as well-"

"-Of course not. Usagi will always be our princess and our priority, I would never-"

"-no, of course not, neither would I. But why can't we find a balance. Is a balance so bad? So, even if you deserve punishment for figuring this out too, I am obviously in no position to punish you. So we should be able to pursue what we want within reason. Okay?"

"Yes. Okay."

"So go pursue what you want, Rei. But at least tell me what it is so I know if you're within reason." She winked at Rei as Rei silently screamed on the inside. Rei backed out of Minako's grasp.

"No."

"What."

"I mean, what about what you want? You must have had something for you to need an answer as well."

"I don't think that's important-"

"It is to me." Minako dug her nails into her palm. She knew it would come up sooner or later.

"Don't you already know?"

"No."

"You mean it wasn't already obvious?"

"No…"

"The hints, the flirting, I mean I was only really jealous of Kai-"

"Minako!"

"Okay fine! It's you. You're why I needed answers. You're what I want."

"What?" Minako's heart dropped. She didn't know what to expect, she just didn't want it to be that damn word. She turned away from Rei.

"Yeah… I'm sorry if it's weird, and this is why I-"

"No but, really?" There was excitement in Rei's voice. She looked over towards Rei. There was a childlike excitement in her eyes as she held back a smile.

"Yeah… I thought you had a clue…" This was becoming too good to be true. For Minako, it honestly was. Warmth at this new development started to kindle within her. She didn't know what to do with herself.

"No, not at all, Minako. Look at me, please, Minako!" She grabbed her face as Minako did to her earlier. When their eyes met Rei immediately looked down out of bashfulness. Her other hand instinctively intertwined with Minako's.

"I… You… You know?" Minako giggled. She found her second-in-command's lack of a way with her words endearing. She gave Rei's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I do." Warmth encompassed the both of them. Rei's hand tingled in Minako's. The fire in Rei, the passion deep within, the beauty of the moment - Minako took it all in.

"Is this… within reason though? " Rei asked. There was worry in her voice that resonated loudly against the sound of their momentary newfound joy. They may have found their answers, but was it the right one? Minako knew what she meant, but she closed her eyes and gently pressed her forehead against Rei's.

"Even if it isn't, let's worry about that later and please just enjoy this moment now."

'After beating the bush- or is it around the bush? whatever - for this long, we at least deserve this moment,' Minako thought.

And so they did. Minako took Rei into an embrace, with the raven-haired girl's head buried into the blonde's shoulder. The blonde caressed the back of the other's head, running her fingers through her hair. Rei shivered as it happened, inhaling the scents of her beautiful blonde - peaches, sweet like syrup, kind of musty too. Minako, in her elation, kissed Rei on her forehead. She then found herself drawn to Rei's cheek, kissing it as well. And then finally she drew in closely for that magical moment when finally, after all this waiting, all this confusion, all the arguments and miscommunications, she would finally get to kiss her Rei on her lips. She drew closer, that passionate flame so close to her lips, and then finally -

"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Startled by the sudden noise, they jumped away from each other. Being so caught up in each other, they hadn't realized how long they'd been talking and that someone else hadn't been warned that today's study session had been cancelled. In unison, the exasperated two gasped,

"Usagi!"

**Cliffhangers for daaaaays. Or months. Or years. Knowing my track record. Just kidding! But I'm sorry if the style is so different. It's hard continuing a story the way I planned it three years ago when it's been, well, three years. I'm extremely rusty in my writing, but I hope it didn't show. There should be a new chapter in a week and then the final chapter should be up in the following week. Thanks y'all! **


	7. Oops

**See! Consistency! I am back in what was only a week's (ish) time! So enjoy this chapter!**

...

"Usagi!"

She stared at the two of them, eyes wide with surprise. That was all Rei and Minako could understand from the expression she had on her face. Her jaw dropped, leaving her mouth wide open and her eyelids refused to blink as her mind soaked in the moment she just walked in on. Her face held that position as her mind processed the whole scene. The two could only look at each other, unsure of how to even approach this situation.

Rei began to open her mouth, but she didn't know what words to say, so she closed it right back. She sent Minako a concerned look before looking back to Usagi. She was nervous. She didn't think that this talk would happen at this very moment, so soon after the previous conflict had been resolved between her and Minako.

"Usagi, I'm so sorry we…" Minako started, but began to trail off. She looked at the floor when she didn't know how else to continue. Usagi started shaking her head, as if in disbelief.

"How… Why didn't you…" Usagi looked at the both of them, they both had shame in their eyes. Rei finally found the words to respond.

"We didn't know how to approach you, let alone start this conversation. We're sorry we should have come to you please don't be mad- "

"I'm not mad!" Usagi proclaimed defensively. They both looked towards her, less scared now and more confused. "I just wish you two would have told me and the others earlier! I mean, that would totally explain why you two have been acting so weird lately."

"What do you mean?" Minako stepped closer to Usagi, in anticipation of her response.

"I mean, I feel hurt is all." Minako and Rei cringed at those words. They should have known this was coming.

"We are so sorry Usagi. We let our feelings come before duty and I know that that isn't what we as soldiers should be - "

"Wait, now I'm confused." Usagi looked at Rei. There was a pause as they all exchanged glances until Minako said,

"What exactly are you upset about, Usagi? And please, explain in detail so we aren't confused. This whole constantly being confused thing is getting really repetitive." Usagi breathed in slowly through her nose, collecting her thoughts while doing so.

"So what I meant to say was that if you two have been dating this whole time, I just wish I would have known earlier. Me, Makoto, Ami… we're all your friends, so you can trust us. I'm just hurt that you didn't, especially since you two were so blatantly weird about it. Please don't feel like you have to hide anything from me because I will always love you two, okay?"

Minako took another step closer to Usagi, with Rei right behind her.

"Well we haven't been…" Minako started, but she decided that clarifying the fact that they haven't been dating this whole time wasn't the most important detail at this very moment. " So… you aren't upset at all by the idea of us being in a relationship? At all?"

"No, not at all." Rei took two more steps forward before saying,

"Even if it meant we were tossing aside our duties as soldiers to you?"

"What? Now what do you mean by that?" Usagi stared at Rei, eyes squinting, brows furrowing in confusion and concentration.

"Just that… we both made vows to you to protect you. We took vows that tossed love aside in favor of serving you, in the name of your safety as well as the safety of all those in your realm. And tossing those vows aside doesn't upset you at all?"

Usagi took a moment to process what was just said before softly smiling at the two of them. Rei tilted her head like a confused puppy and Usagi chuckled lightly at her response.

"Rei, Minako… I love you two and you know that, right?" The two slowly nodded and she continued.

"I'm so proud and honored to have the two of you in charge of caring for me and protecting me, I hope you two know that. It truly makes the hard times I may have in the future as queen seem a lot easier knowing that I have such dedicated people so close to me. But… even though I may be your future queen, and even though I may be your current princess, above all of that, I am your friend."

Usagi pulled both of their arms to get them to come closer before drawing them into a hug.

"Of course I want you two to be together if that's what you two want! I want every single one of my dear friends to be happy."

Once this exclamation left her mouth and entered their ears, both of them squeezed her tighter. Minako swore her mouth couldn't smile any wider than it was doing at that moment.

"So you aren't worried about us being involved with each other interfering with - "

Usagi put her hand up to stop Rei from continuing any further.

"I honestly do not think that would be a problem for either of you. Look at Haruka and Michiru, they function perfectly fine in their situation, flaws and all. I believe in the two of you."

Rei, at that moment, finally let go all worries she had. It was silly of her to even think Usagi would have thought any different. She smiled to herself, thinking of how much trouble she went through when she had nothing to worry about on Usagi's end.

"I'm glad that we had this clarification. But just so we're clear, we didn't mean to hide anything from you, let alone a relationship. We've just been trying to figure things out for ourselves these past couple of weeks, not hiding anything except our struggles between our duty and such. We've barely just told each other how we felt."

"Well, that makes more sense then," Usagi replied, "If this is how you two acted without telling each other, I would have been more worried if you two didn't act on what you guys were feeling. At the rate you two were going, your awkwardness would have gotten in the way of getting anything done."

"Haha, we weren't exactly the most functional people these past couple of weeks, now were we?" Minako chuckled. In all honesty, were they actually worried about what Usagi would have thought?

'I was probably just scared of the actual pursuit, the possibility of rejection and the strangeness that comes with unreciprocated feelings.' She took Rei's hand and gave it a squeeze, smiling at her. Rei squeezed and smiled back. Rei could feel it; everything was good now. Nothing to worry about.

"Oh you two are already so cute!" Usagi beamed at them. She didn't know how to contain the happiness she felt for the two of them; the urge to pinch their cheeks at their cuteness suddenly overcame her. So she did.

"What the hell, Usagi?" Rei responded. Maybe she spoke too soon about having nothing to worry about.

"I'm sorry! I'm just so happy for the two of you," she said while jumping on them to give them hugs. "I promise I'll leave you to alone soon, just let me get my happiness for the two of you out right now!"

Rei sighed, but resigned to her princess. The three of them hugged while Usagi nuzzled into the both of them. Minako couldn't help but keep giggling at her princess.

'Honestly, what was I worried about?'

**Short and sweet. The next and FINAL chapter should be out next week. Until then, have a good week!**


	8. The End of the Beginning

**It is here. The final chapter. After what has been three years this story is finally coming to a close and I can move on to new stories. Here it is and thank you all for reading!**

A certain bow-wearing blonde was just a few blocks away from the parlor where her other friends were already at. She was just getting back from the Outer house since Michiru personally wanted to catch up and hear how everything panned out, probably in hopes that her advice helped out. Minako wasn't in a huge rush even though her friends were already there - her girlfriend had messaged her earlier stating that they just got there a few minutes ago.

'Heh, my girlfriend,' Minako smiled to herself and added a small skip to her step. She was still getting used to calling Rei that. It wasn't as easy of a transition as she thought it would be, to call her that. Everything else was going well though. The dynamic between their group was back to normal for the most part, except everyone else was still trying to get used to it as well. Essentially the core group knows what happened - the Inners, the Outers, Luna and Artemis.

Artemis was taken aback when she told him.

"You two are actually an item now?" he had said. Minako had interpreted his tone as disapproval on his part and shame started to show on her face. He took note of this and chuckled before clarifying.

"Minako, I'm sorry you misunderstood me. I'm not upset that you two are… together. I'm just surprised you two managed to work out any hang ups you had on your vows. You two are pretty darn stubborn."

She smiled, looking back on that day. He knew best how seriously she took her commitments and she wasn't at all surprised that he was surprised. But she was glad that he was happy for her. Everything had been going so well this past week and she couldn't be happier. Things were also practically back to normal in her Inner circle. The only difference being the new couple. All five of them were adjusting, but it has been going better than worse.

She stopped in front of the door to her destination. She peeped through the glass and saw her friends, laughing.

As she entered, she could hear Usagi narrating something that happened in class today, she assumed.

"... and I told Umino, I told him very clearly that there is a huge difference between cheesecake and any other type of cake but he would not let up. He kept insisting that they are 'fundamentally the same thing' but they just aren't! Even when Naru sided with me he just would not stop. He is so frustrating sometimes! So, in the end, I just didn't let him have a piece of my cheesecake and he shut right up."

Everyone busted out laughing and Minako couldn't help but smile from the second hand happiness, even though she had no idea how that conversation even could have started.

"Sounds like you had an interesting day, Usagi."

The attention turned to her and they all greeted her. There was silence, however, as Rei was sitting on the inside of the booth and Ami didn't know whether to stand up to make room for Minako or to just scoot in. Ami looked to the others for help but couldn't pick up on any advice based on the frantic expressions on either of their faces. Sweat started to form on her forehead.

Minako and Rei exchanged a glance. Although they found it a little awkward the first time it happened, they found it entertaining when their friends didn't know how to act on their behalf, which they also admit was slightly sadistic. They sort of allowed this type of thing to happen because, hell, they found it funny. Again, kind of sadistic, they admit. Once they looked away from each other, Rei chuckled and Minako motioned for Ami to scoot in to sit next to her at the edge.

"You three are hilarious. We don't need to sit next to each other all the time, it's fine," Rei told them. Ami looked relieved but Makoto looked annoyed.

"So you guys just let us silently panic for you own entertainment?" Rei and Minako exchanged another glance.

"Yes," Minako put bluntly. The other three were expecting some sort of follow up to that answer but that but Rei sat sipping at her drink while Minako gave her order to a waitress. Makoto looked back and forth between the two, eventually shaking her head, half chuckling and half sighing.

"You two sure are something else." They smiled at Makoto, glad that she would play along.

"But why do you two have to be so mean about it?" Usagi chimed in. Another couple glance between the couple was exchanged.

"We aren't being mean, silly. It's only because we're trying to get you three to see that things don't have to be that different now that we're together. I mean the only thing that's changed is that we hold hands occasionally."

"True…" Usagi said. She pouted at the them and mumbled, "but you two still didn't have to be so mean."

Everyone laughed and Makoto nudged at Usagi and smiled, pointing at her incoming ice cream cake. Usagi became wide-eyed and all was good for the rest of their day.

* * *

><p>Minako, overnight bag in tow, opened the door to Rei's room. This caused Rei to jump in place. She smirked as she saw her girlfriend tidying up the room. Tea was already set on the table.<p>

"Someone important must be coming over for you to be cleaning so diligently." Rei rolled her eyes.

"No… it was just overdue for a cleaning, that's all," she stated as she continued the last touches of her tidying session. Minako chuckled, setting her bag by the table before making her way towards Rei. She kissed her on her cheek and proceeded to collapse on the bed that Rei had just finished making. Rei sighed, giving up on the cleaning now that Minako was here, and collapsed next to her. She looked at her, noticing how tired she seemed.

"Long day, Minako?" The blonde smiled and shook her head.

"Well, I did do a lot today, but I enjoyed it, so I guess I wouldn't look at it as a long d-" she couldn't finish her last word because she was suddenly overcome by a shiver due to an unexpected breeze. She quickly sat up and looked around.

"Ugh, that would explain it - I left your door open, I'm so sorry," and before Rei could say that it was fine, she began making her way towards the door. Rei bit her lip out of slight frustration because she knew they were about three seconds away from cuddling, but didn't say anything because she also knew that Minako would be back on her bed as soon as she closed the door... Right?

As soon as Minako got to the door, a dreamy look hit her eyes.

"I want to see… I'm going outsi…" and her voice faded away as she began to go outside. Rei groaned, sat up quickly and went to go see what Minako was doing. Guess cuddling won't be happening right away. Once Rei got to the doorway, she stopped in her tracks when she saw what Minako was doing. There, she saw her sitting on a bench outside, gazing at the night sky. The wind gently blew her hair as well as the trees and chimes in the area. Rei took the sight in as as attentively as she could, because she knew a sight this beautiful was something that could only be crafted by the gods themselves. Then, she noticed Minako shivering and quickly went back inside to grab her some tea.

"There you are," Minako heard, and turned her head to see Rei coming over with two steaming cups of tea. She smiled as her raven-haired beauty sat next to her.

"I'm sorry, there was just something so enchanting about the sky tonight. I felt almost drawn outside." She grabbed a cup as Rei handed it over. She used her other hand to grab Rei's free hand. They sat there like that for awhile in silence, gazing together while slowly sipping on their teas.

"Things just feel so harmonious now," Minako suddenly stated. It was true, though. For once she didn't seem completely worried about the future - there weren't any looming feelings, only calmness. She placed her cup on the bench and looked at Rei. Rei placed her cup down as well and looked back at her.

"You feel it too?"

"Yes. I guess the atmosphere of this beautiful night helps, but everything else about this very moment just feels so in tune with what I can only describe as right."

"Do you think it's because we're finally free to do what we want? And we know that the ones we care about most are completely in support of it?" They both chuckled.

"I mean, it seems kind of cheesy but when you say it out loud, yeah, I guess that's it."

Their hands stayed intertwined and their eyes stayed connected for a moment before Minako looked back in wonder at the stars. Rei allowed herself to take in the sight of the blonde beauty she had in her hand and found herself thankful she seemed to be here for good.

"Was that a…?" Minako let go of Rei's hand and quickly got up from her seat, excitedly taking a few steps forward. Rei looked at her in confusion.

"Did you see it?" Minako looked back at her excitedly. Judging by the look on Rei's face she gathered she didn't.

"See what?" Rei asked, as she also got up from her seat and made her way towards her.

"I thought I saw a shooting star…" Minako looked back up at the stars. She took her time examining each one and just found them all so surreal. Something about them tonight just seemed more magical than most nights. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something different about -

"Oh!" Minako let out a small yelp as she felt warm arms wrap around her waist and a head on her shoulder.

"Shhh, Grandpa's sleeping." Rei giggled into Minako's ear. Minako giggled back. Okay, so now she definitely knew where the magic was coming from. All the warm feelings were filling her body as she breathed in the night air and a smell that undoubtedly belonged to the woman right behind her - cherry blossoms, roasting firewood, and the faint scent of tea. Minako looked back to the sky.

"You know, I can't seem to find either of us tonight." There was a small hint of disappointment in Minako's voice. Rei paused for a moment before she said anything. She knew Minako was referencing a moment from _that_ night, the night that started the beautiful mess that led to this moment. Rei smiled, and knew what to say, no matter how overtly sentimental it was for Rei to say it.

"Well... we may not be shining up there, but I can feel you glowing right now. And… and I can barely control the joy I feel when we're… together - so I think that it's fine that you can't see 'us', because what matters is at least we're right here, together right now. What matters is seeing and being with each other… Yeah?"

"Yeah." Minako squeezed Rei's hands and let out a dreamy sigh. By the gods, was it cheesy, but she couldn't help but completely agree with all of those words. She turned her head to look back at Rei and smiled.

"Good." Rei smiled back before going in to kiss her on her lips. Once their lips connected, a small spark seemed to run through their bodies. It was a sensation that was becoming more and more familiar to them, but showed no sign of fading anytime soon. Minako couldn't help but smile as she locked lips with Rei. It's an amazing feel - being able to feel someone smile through their kiss, and Rei was cherishing that feeling. That feeling kept tugging at her insides, however, driving her to do what she did next.

Although Minako was searching for more, Rei slowly separated from Minako and began placing her lips on Minako's cheek… then jaw… then slowly down her neck to the crook of it… and made her way to the end of her shoulder. Minako, taken by surprise, couldn't help but let out a soft, soft moan during this. Her eyes rolled up to the stars one last time before she shut them completely and whispered,

"It's getting cold." Rei chuckled and grabbed Minako's hips to spin her around to face her.

"Hmmm, so we should probably head inside then?" Rei asked innocently. Her feigned innocence in her suggestion earned a laugh from Minako. How did she land someone that's so beautiful... and… cute?

"Yes. Please." Minako replied without any hesitation. Rei smirked, quickly grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her inside. It seemed she was going to be getting her cuddling, and then some. Minako shut the door behind her.

**Tada! It is finished! Thank you all for seeing this until its end. There are definitely more Rei and Minako stories to come as well as a new project that I have in mind. If you have any nice things or constructive criticism to say please feel free to let me know (: ! Thank you all! **


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